China's coking coal futures rose to their highest in six sessions on Thursday, with a mine accident in Queensland and import curbs on Australian coal fuelling worries about supply of the steel-making raw material. The most traded coking coal contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange ended 2.1 percent firmer at 1,285 yuan ($191.62) a tonne, after rising as much as 2.9 percent earlier in the session.
Coke futures rose for a fourth day, up 1.7 percent at 2,126.5 yuan, also due to concerns over tight supply. Coking coal is heated to produce coke, which is used to make iron and steel. Coking coal inventory in China is declining as a result of the longer-than-usual clearing of Australian coal imports at some major ports starting this month, according to some analysts.
Further declines could be expected amid an indefinite ban on Australian coal at China's northern Dalian port, with overall coal imports for 2019 through its harbours capped at 12 million tonnes, according to a Dalian Port Group official. Coking coal inventories were down 8 percent from early February at Chinese ports, 20 percent at coke plants, and 4 percent at steel mills, but demand is expected to increase as steel production is set to pick up after this month's Lunar New Year celebration, according to Argonaut Securities.
Anglo American has suspended operations at its Moranbah North coking coal mine in Australia after one worker died and several were injured on Wednesday. The mine in northern Queensland state produced about 7.68 million tonnes of coking coal last year, according to AME Group. "There could be some minor impact on their (Anglo-American) supply," said analyst Li Wang at CRU Group in Beijing. The most traded Dalian iron ore contract dropped 1 percent to 615 yuan a tonne. Iron ore prices remained volatile after scaling a record peak last week.
Expectations of a tightening market remains a key theme for iron ore amid a spate of supply disruptions, but it won't be felt in the short term, said analyst Hui Heng Tan at Marex Spectron.
"Iron ore arrivals into China are expected to increase in the coming 1-2 weeks. With mills in destocking mode, we also (expect) an increase in spot supplies. These are both price negative developments," Tan said. The most active rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange gained 1.6 percent to 3,677 yuan a tonne. Hot rolled coil climbed 1.3 percent to 3,671 yuan.
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